Aging in America Blog #5

Wild Card Blog Entry

For my last blog entry, I wanted to talk about an issue that I've had personal experience with, Alzheimer's disease. Scientists believe that up to 4.5 million Americans suffer from the disease and I happen to know one man with Alzheimer's that always puts a smile on my face.

My godmother's father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about 6 years ago when he was 61 years old. He had had memory loss in the past but there really weren't any red flags until Mr. W went missing one day. He always took a walk around his neighborhood in the afternoons, weather permitting. One day Mr. W's walk was taking far longer than usual and Mrs. W began calling every relative asking if anyone had heard from him.

I'm sure stories like these are familiar to a lot of people. The elderly relative or friend that just wanders off one day, with no explanation. Thankfully, one of Mr. W's neighbors spotted him standing on the sidewalk just looking around. They asked if he was all right and he responded "I'm not sure, do you know how I got here?" The neighbor walked Mr. W back home and explained what happened to Mrs. W.

I'm not sure how long the diagnosis process was for Mr. W but the last time I saw him he seemed completely normal. If I hadn't known about the incident or his diagnosis, I never would have guessed anything was different. I guess Mr. W saw me looking at the laminated information card attached to his cane because he leaned over to me and whispered, "Ya know, the best part about forgetting everything, is that I don't remember I forget!"